In State v. Stone, Division Two of the Court of Appeals (Tacoma) has ruled the Jefferson County Superior Court pay or appear program is unconstitutional as applied.
State v. Stone___ Wn,App ___,(39912-1-II) (Div II) Jan. 4, 2011.
“We hold that enforcement proceedings for LFO [Legal Financial Obligation] payment obligations arising from criminal
sentences, which may result in incarceration, triggered a fundamental due process right to
appointed counsel denied Stone at the March 23 hearing. We also hold that the trial court
violated Stone’s due process rights by imposing jail time without inquiring at the March 23
hearing into Stone’s ability to pay and without making a finding at the October 2 hearing of his
willful failure to pay.”
CASE SUMMARY (per Washington Defender Association):
LFOs/Right to Counsel: Enforcement of LFOs falls under the criminal statutes and requires counsel to be provided if noncompliance may result in incarceration.
State v. Stone___ Wn,App ___,(39912-1-II) (Div II) Jan. 4, 2011.
Facts: Mr. Stone was ordered to pay LFOs as part of a criminal sentence. Without counsel being appointed to him, he signed an order to pay or appear in Jefferson County, requiring a minimum payment of $25.00 per month. He missed payments and failed to appear and did not contact the court numerous times. He was eventually incarcerated for non-payment and did not have counsel provided for the court hearings where jail was imposed. The court imposed jail because Mr. Stone did not pay and did not contact the court to offer any information about his circumstances. The court did not make any finding on Mr. Stone’s ability to pay but punished him for not paying and not appearing/calling. The state argued that the enforcement fell under the civil contempt statutes rather than the criminal statutes and that if counsel was required, Mr. Stone had waived that right.
Held: Enforcement proceedings for LFO payment arising from criminal sentences fall under the criminal statutes, here under 9.94B.040 [and not the civil contempt statutes]. If enforcement may result in incarceration then a fundamental due process right to counsel applies. Here, the trial court violated Mr. Stone’s due process rights when it sanctioned him without inquiring about Mr. Stone’s ability to pay and without finding a willful failure to pay and without providing counsel.
If you would like to comment on this story, please send an email to editor @clallamcountybar.com [NOTE: you can cut and paste this email address, but you must remove the spaces after "editor" in the email address. Spaces are included to reduce spam.]
Judge Headrick passed away December 7, 2011 at age 74. He honored the Clallam County District Court #1 Bench over four terms from 1979 through 1993. Judge Headrick represented the finest qualities of a judge. He was fair, impartial, diligent, balanced and compassionate. He worked hard and brought a fine legal mind as he considered all sides of an argument.
Above all, Judge Headrick was, as Craig Ritchie said, unflappable. He demonstrated an unusual amount of patience and politeness. For practitioners, this is often one of the most appreciated aspects of a judge.
A celebration of life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 7, 2012, in the Juan de Fuca Room at the Port Angeles Crabhouse restaurant, 221 North Lincoln Street, Port Angeles, Washington.
If you would like to offer a thought or memory about Rich, please forward your thoughts and we will post them.
A very nice Memorial Notice may found here at the Peninsula Daily News website.
Commissioner Basden will be out next Friday on the 23rd. The morning Family Court Calendar will be moved to Courtroom II before Judge Williams, and the afternoon Family Court Calendar will be moved to Courtroom I before Judge Taylor.
Chris Melley’s position as District Court Commissioner was terminated by the county, on Wednesday, November 30, 2011, due to budgetary issues. Chris has provided dedicate and honorable leadership to our county for 35 years (so far).
We hope to see him back contributing to the needs of our county soon, and we wish him the best as he spends time regrouping to find his next path in life.
The “Voting for Judges” website (http://www.votingforjudges.org) is a valuable nonpartisan source of judicial-evaluation information for candidates running for judicial office. Now in its fifth year, the site includes information about candidates for all levels of courts throughout the state.
The WSBA is a co-sponsor of this site.
The Judicial Forum will be held on July 16, 2010 from 11:45 to 1:15. The PDN and Sequim Gazette will be present and the forum will be recorded.
Steve Methner is not available as a moderator, so if someone has a suggestion, please contact President, Will Payne.
After the forum, the evaluation forms for prosecutor and judicial candidates will be mailed to only dues paid members for 2010 as of July 16, 2010. So, if you have not paid, please do so to Cliff Tassie. The evaluations will be mailed with a SASE envelope to return the evaluations to CCBA and the results will be blind. Past President, Carol Mortensen, President, Will Payne and 2011 President, Chris Koenig will tally the results and provide it to the members.
Please RSVP so a correct amount of food may be ordered for those who attend.
Per Ms. Clevenger, Court Administrator: CHINS/YAR moves to Wednesday at 0830 as of March 1; Juvenile Dependency Calendar moves to Wednesday at 0900 as of March 1; Juvenile Offender Calendar moves to 0900 Thursday as of March 1.
On June 29, 2009, the Clallam County Superior Court implemented changes to LCR 77(k), and LCR 94(f) (with Exhibit A), and Administrative rule 0.3, and added Administrative Rule 0.5, 0.6, 0.7
Of particular note for family law practictioners, LCR 94(f) makes substantial changes to the settlement conference procedures, and imposes heavy financial santcions for failing to comply with the rule. For example, settlement conference briefs are now mandatory using the required form, and if filed late incur mandatory sanctions of $250-$500. Failing to appear at a settlement conference, without court permission, yields a mandatory sanction of $250.
Administrative rule 0.7 requires all pleadings to be in at least 12 point type.
Local rules may be found at www.courts.wa.gov
The Clallam County Bar Association is holding a judicial candidate forum for the candidates for Washington State Court of Appeals Division II, District 2.
Attorney Tim Ford is challenging the incumbent Judge J. Robin Hunt for a seat on the court.
Both candidates will be present to discuss their judicial philosophy and to answer questions put to them by the moderator.
The event will be held Friday, June 20, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Port Angeles City Council Chambers.
The public is invited to attend.
For further information about the candidates: www.reelectjudgehunt.com and www.timford2008.com
Patrick M. Irwin, President
Clallam County Bar Association
360-457-3327
There will be a brown bag luncheon at noon tomorrow (March 5, 2008) at the courthouse. This will be to discuss the judge rotation calendar.
(Click to enlarge photo) To an overflowing crowd in Clallam County’s Courtroom 1, Brooke Taylor was sworn in by Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, as Clallam County’s new, and third, Superior Court judge on Wednesday, January 2, 2008. Present at the ceremony were numerous dignitaries including Continue reading ‘Brooke Taylor sworn as Judge’
The primary election is over and Brooke Taylor will be the new Clallam County Superior Court judge. By statute, any judge who wins more than 50% of a primary election will be the only candidate appearing on the fall general election. Mr. Taylor won 53% of the election, therefore his name will be the only one appearing on the ballot.
ClallamCountyBar.com says congratulations to Mr. Taylor, and offers a hearty congratulations to Brent Basden, Curtis Johnson and Craig Miller for making the effort to keep our democracy robust.
The County’s first report of results (all candidates and positions) can be seen here
As of 8:09 p.m. on 8/21/07, the unofficial tally’s are:
Brooke Taylor – 52.75% with 7,032 votes
Brent Basden - 22.73% with 3,031 votes
Curtis Johnson - 13.34% with 1,779
Craig Miller – 11.18% with 1,490 votes
If Brooke Taylor maintains more than 50% of the vote, state law mandates
that he will be the only candidate placed on the general election ballot. The next count will be Friday August 24th by 4:30 p.m.. The election results will be final and certified on September 5th.
The Bar Association’s poll results for judicial candidates are in. Results based on 9 measures with a grading scale of 1-5 for each measure are as follows:
4.7 Brooke Taylor
3.7 Brent Basden
3.1 Curtis Johnson
3.1 Craig Miller
Click here to see a table of the result details: bar-poll-results-table.htm
This summer marks an historic election for Clallam County’s newly created position for a third Superior Court Judge (position #3). This position was authorized by an act of the state legislature last year. The first ballot will be in the primary election (August 21, 2007 this year) Unless one candidate obtains 51% or more of the vote, the top two candidates will run off in the November election.
